Today was much like the Tour of Southland (NZ). Wind, rain and cold. With a block headwind most of the day with the occasional crosswind section and intermittent periods of sunshine amongst long stints of rain, it was a horrible day. USPS were keen to let a break go and off load the jersey so that they didn’t have to be responsible for controlling the race. They did this by letting a break go by twenty minutes after which they rode a steady tempo to bring it back to 12min by the finish. It was an extremely long day with the wind in the face and super nervous as everyone wanted to be at the front in case of a serious crosswind section.
It was one of those battling days. Worst of all, I didn’t know what to do with my rain jacket. Every time I put it on, it would rain for a bit then stop. I’d take it off then immediately the rain would start again. I couldn’t win. In the end, I just left it on. I think that I’ll cut the sleeves off so that it’s a little easier to stuff into my pocket next time. Pocket space is at a premium and I don’t want to waste space on a rain jacket!
Although this doesn’t seem to be a problem for Dekker though who I was surprised to see pull out a full sized ham and cheese sanger from his pocket today. ‘Nice…’ I said. ‘You have enough for everybody?’, as he started to munch away.
Tour de France - Stage 6:
Lucky me last night had dinner with the French Minister of Sport and Race Director, Jean Marie LeBlanc. To tell you the truth, it was a pretty long and arduous night after a long day. We didn’t get back to the rooms till 11pm. This aside, the food was shit. Even though we were staying at the notoriously bad, Ibis chain hotel, I thought that with the French Minister of Sport there, they would make a better effort. But nah! As is typical with Ibis, the food was shit with overcooked pasta and dry crusty chicken. We get used to this racing in France though. I just wondered what the Minister thought of it. Don’t imagine the NZ Sport Minister (who ever that is!) would’ve been impressed at all, let alone even wanting to meet a cycling team...
Anyway, we were expecting the worse with the weather again today but it wasn’t too bad. A little period of rain and a mostly favourable wind - well, it felt like it sitting in the bunch. This felt good after the shit weather of the past few days.
It was an early break again today. I tried to have a crack but couldn’t go anywhere this morning. In fact, after the first 50km, I was feeling like a loser as I couldn’t even get to the front of the bunch. After about 100km, I finally found my legs.
The break came back in the final few kilometers as the peloton hammered through the final 10kms. The arrival into town at breakneck speeds, dodging roundabouts and traffic islands was a sure lead up to a heinous crash. It was pretty hair-raising and I felt like I was risking my life to try and get amongst it. At that point I decided not to think about it. It’s really a severe case of sensory over-stimulation. The rush is just insane. You have to concentrate so much and be super alert as it can all change so quickly. And it did. Coming in to the final few hundred metres, a huge crash unfolded to my left and the domino effect was quickly surging my way. At the time, I was overlapping the back wheel of Kirsipuu in front of me. Suddenly he swerved erratically to the right taking out my front wheel. ‘Down.’ was all I was thinking, ‘Down, down, down….’ Somehow, as my wheel tangled with his rear derailleur, I was able to move to the far right of the road with him and my wheel freed up. My heart was in my mouth, I swallowed it again, regained my composure and looked back for Thor, who had been on my wheel up until that point, ready for my lead-out. I couldn’t see him. I looked back again and still he was nowhere to be seen. Now with only a few hundred metres left, I negotiated the last two corners in an effort to salvage what I could out of the insane experience, finishing 8th. I tell you, I have had a lot of very close calls in this race. None closer than today though….It’s really unnerving...
Tour de France - Stage 7:
High Octane
Today, the start of the stage was like never before. I could not believe how fast we were going for the first hour. We must have averaged 55km/hr as everyone tried to make the break-aways. It was one of the most impressive hours of racing I’ve ever been a part of. Although it was hard and fast, I was happy that the sun was shining, which we haven’t had much of since the start of the Tour. It wasn’t going to be that way all day though as 30km from the finish, we hit the rain again and crosswinds which ripped the race apart there for a while.
From the early stage madness, Dekker had gone in a break with one other Lotto rider but when the race got heavy at the end, they were quickly brought back. Maybe he didn’t have time to eat his sandwich today and that’s why he couldn’t stay away. He’d need a half hour to eat that kind of sandwich and for sure he couldn’t find the time today!
Coming in to Saint-Brieuc, the finish town, the race was all over the show with no team able to keep it together for a sprint. It was a little up and down the last 20km and this also made it hard. The problem now in these situations, is that without Petacchi and his team controlling the race, you never know what’s going to happen. No other sprinter had a team strong enough to control the finish. As a result, a few guys skipped away in the closing kms and took the stage just ahead of the peloton. I did my job in the lead-out and Thor was able to finish it off in the sprint.
Today, I wasn’t really feeling that good on the small climbs that we had in the end and I was suffering a little. I had to keep looking down to see if my back wheel was rubbing cause that was how it felt. The wheel rubbing wouldn’t have surprised me though as the Shimano wheels that we use are too soft and I have had them rubbing on the break pads before for no reason when I get out of the saddle. My climbing makes me a little worried about the mountain stages and whether I’ll be able to survive them. I did spend a far amount of energy this morning trying to get in the break and although I got in a couple, it was difficult to stay away doing 65km/hr. I certainly don’t feel like I’m climbing as well as I was at Tour of Swiss and with a few of the sprinters out already it’s going to be a less organized grupetto.
I hope that the feelings of today will pass and I’ll be able to find my rhythm and confidence on the climbs for next week. If I can’t then I’ll be in a spot of bother. Until then though, I will just keep on racin’. Tomorrow is the last day before the first rest day. I expect that it’ll all be on again as it’s the last of the flatter stages, although like today it’s a little undulating.
Just want to say thank you to all the people who’ve been writing to me. It’s awesome to read, especially when things are getting a little hard and I’m a bit down. I hope that I can have the chance at some point to get a stage victory for you all as I feel like I have the power for it… the problem will be getting the opportunity.
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